English /Borrowing from other languages
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| Hmm, no; "whisky" comes for the GAELIC word "uisge" (oo-sh-keh) which means "water." |
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| Isn't that basically what I said (highly summerised)? |
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| Not really. It sounded like the other person said whisly was a Japanese word. You then did not tell her that it was; you did not appear to correct her by saying whisky is a Gaelic word in origin. |
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Today we are all familiar with such words as almanac, arsenal, calibre, cipher, cotton, nadir, zenith and zero from Arabic, bungalow, dinghy, loot, and pundit from Hindi, coffee, fez, horde, tulip and turban from Turkish azure, bazaar, carvan, chess, paradise, orange, kiosk, pyjamas, scarlet and tiger from Persian, atoll, calico, curry and teak from Dravidian, Silk and tea from chinese, bamboo, gutta-percha, and sago from Malay, taboo and tatto from Polynesian, hammock and hurricane from caribbean through Spanish, maize from Cuban through Spanish and igloo and kayak from Eskimo. There are many more. |
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| the word "shampoo" was first recorded in the sense "massage"-mid 18th century- as part of a Turkish bath process. It comes from Hindi "campo"! 'press'!, the imperative of campna. |
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| and if you've seen 'my big fat greek wedding', all words are derived from greek! ha, i love that old man in the movie...he's a funny man. |
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I see what you mean. Perhaps I was not clear enough in my explanation. So if there is still any doubt ... The word "whisky" or "whiskey" is not of Japanese origin. It came to English from the Gaelic "uisce beatha" (Irish) or "uisge beatha" (Scotish). The Japanese word "uisukii" came from English. To understand why the word is spelt "uisukii" in Japanese you have to have an understanding of katakana. Katakana is one of the two phonetic writing systems used in Japanese. When you transliterate "whiskey" or "whisky" into katakana you get "ｳｲｽｷｰ" then when you transliterate that back into roman letters you get "uisukii". |
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It doesn't look like my katakana came out properly ... I'd half expected that. I'll try this ... ウイスキー |
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| Jim, I think that you forgot to put the "r" in "breatha." It literally means "the water of life" in Gaelic (and Irish). |
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As people are interested in the etymology of "whiskey" or "whisky", I checked my "Webster's" : "Whisky" is (Br.) the preffered spelling for scotch 'whiskey' for Irish or bourbon/a drink of whiskey shortened from "usquebaugh" form Ir. Gael. "usisgebeatha"/water of life ! I can't believe it's water of life ! |
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Greek I saw the movie. which words are derived from Greek ? Could you please give some examples ? |
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oops ! a typo I meant "from Persian naranj" |
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If I forgot to put the "r" in "breahta" then you can blame The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. I just did a cut and paste job. See the site I posted on the previous page. The spelling of the word is interesting. As far as I know, whiskey is from either Ireland or the USA and if it's from any other country it's whisky. This, of course, includes Canadian whisky. It's worth noting also that on bottles of Japanese whisky you see it spelt "whisky". You never actually see it spelt "uisukii" on bottles. The spelling "uisukii" is just a romanisation of the word in katakana. Chantal, I can't believe that you can't believe that whisk(e)y is the water of life. |
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| Well, I guess I am wrong then. I could have sworn there was a "r" in there. |
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| I hate whiskey and whisky |